Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-92- A Budgetary Analysis of Cadre
with the alternative of a cadre augmented force. A cadre augmented force makes it less costly
to hedge against long duration ground wars and therefore makes it more likely that the DoD
may choose to do so.
8.2—OPERATIONAL VS. STRATEGIC RESERVE
A cadre augmented force can also affect the nature of reserve service. Before 2001,
the RC had been primarily a strategic reserve, drilling two weekends a month plus two weeks
a year and almost never being called up to deploy abroad. 108 Operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan have required using RC forces as an operational reserve, deploying RC units
more than once to fight the same war. 109 The desirability of an operational reserve is the
subject of much debate. 110 Some argue that an operational reserve is not desirable because it
places too much strain on the nation’s citizen-soldiers by disrupting both their work and
personal lives on a regular basis. 111 A cadre augmented force has the additional benefit that it
could return the reserves from their operational role back to a strategic role.
For long wars fought with rotation, RC units could be deployed only in the first
years of a war while cadre units are mobilizing but not thereafter as shown in Figure 8.2.
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108 DSB (2007), p. 24; Freedberg (2007)
109 Korb and Duggan (2007)
110 Arnold Punaro, Chairman of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, is quoted as saying:
“We have not had a national debate about whether or not we want an ‘operational reserve.’ We backed into it.”
[Freedberg (2007)]
111 Korb and Bergmann (2007), p. 24.